Top 10 Health Benefits of Cycling

Despite being invented out of the need to travel, cycle has taken up many roles with the passing time. It is seen as a nice hobby, a nice form of exercise and a competitive sport. It is known for a wide range of health benefits and is considered an easy way to a healthy body and mind. 10 benefits that are likely to become the reason for you to start cycling are listed below. So are you cycling already?

10.Deals With Illness: Cycling is scientifically proven as a counter measure for many diseases. To some extent, research shows that, cycling on a daily basis reduces the chances of cancer. According to a large research in Finland, stats showed that people who cycled for more than 30 minutes per day have 40% less chances to develop diabetes. It may not be always be the solution to a disease you have but it acts as a good preventive measure. In case of osteoarthritis, cycling can be used as a way of exercise(not as a cure) as it doesn’t put a lot of stress on the joints.

9.Improves Coordination and Balance: Cycling is about maintaining balance, in the body plus cycle system, to avoid falling down. So cycling as a regular practice improves the coordination in your body i.e body to eye, arm to leg and feet to hand coordination. With improved coordination and balance, you tend to acquire a proper posture and your chances of falling and getting fractures are reduced.

8.Stress Relieving: At first, you might be thinking that how can cycling be stress relieving. But then it is surprisingly true. Research has found that there is some relation between cycling and how brain scientifically generates the feelings of pleasure and joy. So believe it or not, but cycling when you are under stress can end up countering your stress instead. Some research even suggests that cycling can also generate a legal high similar to the popularly known runner’s high.

7.Lose Weight: Cycling is an exercise and so undoubtedly it is a way to lose calories. These days obesity is becoming more common at a younger age. Reduced life expectancy, increased pressure on body organs and tons of other problems are the adverse effects of obesity. Here comes the importance of cycling. Cycling is simple and so you don’t have to be prepared in a lot of ways to do it as an exercise. It is a great way to control/lose weight if done on a regular basis and it acts as a good pastime.

6.Boosted Immunity: Exercise does the job of making the body mechanisms work more actively. Cycling is no exception to this. It enhances the blood circulation in the body. It increases the efficiency of the soldiers of the immune system i.e the white blood cells. They take less time to counter the disease causing bacteria and hence make for a stronger defense system against them. So start cycling, increase your immunity and thereby stay healthy.

5.Physical Fitness: By cycling, along with controlling weight, you also get a proper distribution of weight. Your hand and leg muscles get stronger and on the whole you get a well toned body, if you do it right. Mental state can be reflected sometimes by the physical body. The opposite is also true. That is good physical state will also result in improved mental health.

4.Healthier Heart: The muscles of the heart also get stronger by cycling. And as proved even scientifically this also means reduced chance of heart attack. The heart is a key component of the body. It is responsible for pumping blood in the circulatory system which means any damage to the heart can reflect as hindrance to the proper functioning of the body. So there is no doubt that a healthy heart is one important part of a healthy and happy life.

3.Increased Stamina: People with low stamina tend to do less things and hence feel lethargic. Along with the feeling of laziness, the body also gets weaker. A lazy lifestyle adversely affects the quality of life and the life expectancy of a person. A weaker body is less efficient in doing any kind of work. Gradually increasing the pace at which you cycle causes increase in stamina. Its important to do it gradually as the body needs a little time to cope with increased work it has to do.

2.Sleep Well: Sleeping is very important, when it comes to your concentration and efficiency when you are awake. But these days, it is neglected a lot, for purposes of work or entertainment. Sleeping less results in inability to sleep for a longer time. The condition in which a person is unable to sleep is known as Insomnia. Exercise in general has a positive effect on the sleep cycle. Same is with cycling. It is not known for sure how does exercise help with sleeping. It is proposed that it calms down anxiety and so it counters one cause of insomnia.

1.Stronger Metabolism: Everyone wants to eat their favorite food without worrying about its effects on the body. Such a dream is not impossible. Eating is not only about what you eat, it is also about what food your stomach can digest. So to eat different kinds of food what you need is a stronger metabolism. Cycling is also a way to boost your metabolism. The mechanism is a little complicated and deals with flow of energy in the body. A stronger metabolism, in simple terms, can be related to increased efficiency of the digestive system. A strong digestive system can digest more kinds of food without any problem.

There are a lot of benefits of cycling, but it is important that when you do cycling, you do it right. Firstly, your body should not have any problem that can be made worse by cycling. So it is a good idea to consult a doctor, if you haven’t been cycling before, but want to start now. You must not start cycling at a very fast pace. Instead you should increase your pace slowly so that your body gets time to get accustomed to the excess work it has to do as mentioned earlier. It is important to give cycling a certain amount of time everyday to get its benefits but at the same time it is important that you don’t overdo it. The basic idea is to push your limits further without pushing yourself beyond your own limit. So you should consider making it a habit to “do cycling regularly and properly”, as a wise man has said “Health is Wealth”.